There is something innately snobby about the world of books. There is the snobbery of literary over genre, of adult books over children’s, of seriousness over comedy, of reality over fantasy, of Martin Amis over Stephen King. And it is unhealthy. If books ever die, snobbery would be standing over the corpse.

So here is my message to book snobs:

1. People should never be made to feel bad about what they are reading. People who feel bad about reading will stop reading.

2. Snobbery leads to worse books. Pretentious writing and pretentious reading. Books as exclusive members clubs. Narrow genres. No inter-breeding. All that fascist nonsense that leads commercial writers to think it is okay to be lazy with words and for literary writers to think it is okay to be lazy with story.

3. If something is popular it can still be good. Just ask Shakespeare. Or the Beatles. Or peanut butter.

Find Me:

Hi! Thanks for visiting my website and checking out my books. I love connecting with readers, librarians, teachers, and other writers.

Just so you know what to expect from me... I blog infrequently here, mostly about big ideas or particular experiences that have gotten under my skin and continue to niggle me. I also blog about critique and the writing process in a group blog at www.fromthemixedupfiles.com.

I'm the most interactive on Twitter. I use Goodreads to track my own reading habits and for giveaways. Detailed information about book releases and events is on my Facebook author page. (Sorry, but I can't accept friend requests on my personal FB feed from people I don't know in real life. It's a safety thing.)